The Mimicking of Oral Traditions in African American Literature

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Lauren Johnson (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Advisor

Seodial F. H. (Seodial Frank Hubert) 1956- Deena

Abstract: The authors Zora Neale Hurston Toni Morrison and Randall Kenan create a authentic listener experience through the use of literary features that mimic oral tradition in African American culture. The "authentic listener experience" is the purposeful drawing of the reader into the shoes of an African American rural twentieth-century active participant listener regardless of where the reader stands. In essence instead of reading the reader is invited to eavesdrop on various stories being told within these novels. This is done by using techniques such as the re-creation and verbal illustration of the porch scene in the African American novel the use of songs multiple versions of stories rumors the supernatural and interruptions. 

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Date: 2012

Keywords

American literature, African American studies, African, American, Language, Orality, Tradition

Subjects

American literature--African American authors

Oral communication in literature

Hurston, Zora Neale--Criticism and interpretation

Morrison, Toni--Criticism and interpretation

Kenan, Randall--Criticism and interpretation

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